Sunday, June 14, 2009

Mets' sense of urgency lasts one day

Sunday's 15-0 loss to the Yankees was the game you expected the Mets to play following the crushing loss Friday night. Worst Subway Series blowout ever. Worst game ever by Mets' ace. Star closer confronts some guy on the Yankees - who is he again? Oh, right - the guy who's always on the DL.

I guess the "sense of urgency" Jerry Manuel said the Mets played with on Saturday had a short shelf life.

Here's the scariest thing about today's game. Going into the Subway Series, if you had said that the Mets would lose a game, 15-0, with Johan on the mound, I would have thought that it can't get any worse than that. Yet, according to It's Mets for Me, it was only the third worst loss of the week!

Included in It's Mets for Me's list of five worst losses of the year are the Castillo game and last Wednesday's loss to the Phillies in which the Mets knocked out Cole Hamels but miscues by David Wright and Carlos Beltran allowed the Phillies to tie the game, which they eventually won in extra innings off of Bobby Parnell.

(The other three losses on the list are the five-error game in L.A. where Ryan Church missed third, the game Johan Santana lost after Daniel Murphy dropped a fly ball and the game in St. Louis where Beltran failed to slide. The Church game tops the list and I agree - while the Castillo game is the one that will be remembered a lot longer, the L.A. game was a total team meltdown and worthy of having the whole team compared to the '62 Mets, rather than just one player.

Today's wipeout doesn't even make the Top 5, though the blog says it could break into the Top 5 eventually.)

This list intrigues me for a couple of reasons.

It's only the middle of June and there are already so many really bad losses.

Two of the current top 5 took place in New York - and I was at both games.

And these two spectacularly bad losses that I had the misfortune to attend took place within a span of three days.

Squawker Lisa points out that my first choice for attending a game this weekend was today's game. I cleverly thought the Mets would have their best chance to win with Santana on the mound.

Would I rather have been at today's game than Friday's game? Friday's game was like having a really good meal and then, just as you were taking the last bite of dessert, you suddenly got food poisoning.

But I would still rather have gone Friday. Today's game was over in the fourth inning, but Lisa would have insisted on staying until the bitter end, long after every other Met fan at Yankee Stadium had fled the premises.

Hell, even Manuel managed to get himself tossed so he didn't have to stick around.

The day did have some bright spots. At least nobody got hurt. Most importantly, both Santana and Manuel say Santana is physically fine. Not that I believe anything anyone associated with the Mets says about injuries, but at least that's the story as of now.

Also, there were no plays that will end up on all the highlight reels, except maybe for Nick Swisher crashing into the auxiliary scoreboard and dislodging the panel reading "Mets."

Brian Stokes and Jon Switzer can both tell their grandchildren that they replaced Santana in a game and pitched just as well as Johan.

Brian Bruney apologized after the game for his comments about K-Rod. Now maybe this story can go away. Both the Mets and Yankees have far bigger things to worry about.

While the Yankees got the best of it this weekend, both teams ended the week against their main rivals with 2-4 records.

Besides, the Mets get a Subway Series rematch in two weeks, and I think they will do better - at least at the games I don't attend!

9 comments:

nutballgazette said...

The only way I can relate to you is This loss by the Mets would be like The Jets losing to the Dolphins 56-0.

Anonymous said...

not really nutball. Jets and Dolphins play in the same division, and only play a 16 game schedule. those games matter a hell of a lot more than this one. this one was ugly for the mets, but I can promise you that the loss on friday was a hell of a lot more painful than this one.
km

Uncle Mike said...

I was in Atlantic City, and I didn't see a pitch of today's game. Does anyone know what happened?

Okay, I had my Walkman with me, and Ma & Pa Pinstripe came in clear from 130 miles away.

It could be worse: I correspond online with a young lady from Scotland (not sure HOW young but at least 21), who said she would be visiting New York, and had gotten tickets to this game. She even bragged that she'd gotten a good price for her extra ticket. She's a big Met fan even though she's from the land of the Old Firm (soccer's Glasgow "derby," Celtic vs. Rangers, although she roots for neither). She was so happy about getting to see this game... and now she's going to need that airsick bag on British Airways.

I.M. Forme said...

thanks for picking up where i left off. i only ranked games based on the personal amount of tears I shed, so the measure of Mets mediocrity is open to interpretation of course! I was at the Dodger disaster, actually all three of them, so that one weighs heavy on my soul. Not what we hoped we'd be debating, eh?

Anonymous said...

This game wasn't over in the 4th inning, it was over in the 3rd inning. That's when the Mets loaded the bases with nobody out and Cora and Martinez thought they were Phil Mickelson while trying to hit balls at their shoelaces (Burnett's slider was filthy, but leaving the bases loaded when there were no outs is inexcusable).

I love how when asked about Johan, Manuel's response was that he wasn't worried. Does manuel ever worry about anything? Is Alfred E. Newman pulling the strings here? Forget for just a moment that Johan has allowed 20 earned runs over his last four starts. What worries me is that over his last three starts, he only has eight K's. What, me worry?

Michael in California

Uncle Mike said...

Hey, yeah, that guy in California has an interesting point. Manuel doesn't appear to be worried. In fact, to borrow a phrase Met fans won't like, he doesn't seem to be "devastated" by either the 9-8 shocker or the 15-0 disaster, either.

But what are we worried about? After all, it's not like he's Witless Willie the Yankee, right?

Admit it: If it was Randolph managing this team with the results of 2008 and (so far) 2009, forget the bus, Met fans would be throwing him under the LIRR train! So when does the "Fire Manuel!" call begin?

Anonymous said...

The fire jerry chants will come when/if he warrants firing. Jerry is missing his shortstop/leadoff hitter, his cleanup hitter, set-up man, and 2/5ths of his rotation, and we are still above water. And fact is, if it weren't for castillo's drop friday night, we would've taken 2 of 3 from the almight yankees. so my question is, when do the cries for Girardi's head begin? Then you can hire witless willie to captain your ship!
Although I seem to recall last year that no one took me up on my offer to swap willie for girardi!
km

nutballgazette said...

km

I think there are some calls for Girardi to go.
I am not sure about this, But I would interview Buck Showalter for the GM job and see what ideas he has, The great Yankee teams were built by Stick Michael along with Buck

Anonymous said...

Manuel never should have got the job in the first place. Is it not obvious that this team needs a manager that will actually discipline his team? Reyes doesn't run hard on a couple of occasions, does he get benched for the rest of the game? No. You want to pamper one of your stars, that may be one thing, but F-Mart did the same thing and got thrown out in his first or second career game, and was right back in the lineup the next day. Ridiculous. Hey Beltran, don't feel like sliding? No worries! I mean, who needs fundamentals? You can blame injuries for many things, but not the lack of fundamentals or disciplined approach. Last year Jimmy Rollins pulled that same stunt and was promptly removed rom the game. When asked about it by the press, he admitted his wrong doing and said Charlie was right to pull him. Last time I checked, they have WS rings.

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